The UFO is an amusement park

Amusement park

thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...

 ride designed by HUSS Maschinenfabrik in 1978, based on the company's Enterprise

Enterprise (ride)

The Enterprise is an amusement ride, manufactured primarily by HUSS Maschinenfabrik in 1972. The ride was an adaptation and improvement of a design produced earlier that year by Schwarzkopf, with an increased passenger capacity. Despite not owning the original incarnation of the ride, HUSS was...

 and Skylab amusement rides.

Design and operation

The UFO consists of twelve, four-person gondolas, mounted in a circle around a central drive hub. This hub is in turn connected to a hydraulic arm. The ride is rotated to produce a centrifugal force

Centrifugal force

Centrifugal force can generally be any force directed outward relative to some origin. More particularly, in classical mechanics, the centrifugal force is an outward force which arises when describing the motion of objects in a rotating reference frame...

 sufficient enough to stick the riders to the wall of the gondala furthest from the centre. Once this is achieved, the hydraulic arm is used to move the entire ride from the horizontal position to near-vertical. The time between the ride beginning to spin and the ride reaching near-vertical is approximately sixty seconds. The ride must be lowered back to the horizontal position before the rotation can cease.

There are no safety restraints on the UFO; the centrifugal force is strong enough to prevent riders from experiencing any major movement while the ride is not at horizontal, and in the event of a rotational or power failure, the size and spacing of the bars that make up the gondola 'cage' (along with enforced height and safety restrictions), prevents riders from falling out.

Nevertheless, minimum rider height requirement is usually 54 inches (137.2 cm) or taller, as much as some extreme roller coasters.

Appearances

There are believed to be fewer than 25 UFOs operating worldwide.

• Australia - One; Flying Saucer at Luna Park Sydney
  Luna Park Sydney
  Luna Park Sydney is an amusement park, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
  
  .
• Canada - One; Night Mares at Canada's Wonderland.
• South Africa - One; The UFO at Gold Reef City
  Gold Reef City
  Gold Reef City is a large amusement park in Johannesburg, South Africa. Located on an old gold mine, the park is themed around the gold rush on the Witwatersrand. Park staff wear period costumes of the 1880s, and the buildings on the park are designed to mimic the same period...
  
  .
• United States of America - One; UFO at Darien Lake Theme Park Resort.